The Road to Nowhere
by charmony
Summary: NPH 5 - A serial killer is working in both Arkansas and Missouri and is killing women in a way never seen before. Can the BAU figure it out before three of their own lose their lives to his sadistic needs?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: My first casefic. Gulp! I'm really nervous about writing this. I'm not sure it's going to be very good but I am going to be giving it my very best, just as I do to everything else so we'll just have to see how I do.**

**Please review and let me know how I am doing.**

**WARNING: This story has been rated M due to violence and adult themes. Please heed the warning and be aware that some of the content may not be suitable for younger readers.**

**PLEASE NOTE: This is NPH 5. If you aren't already following this series, I recommend that you make your way to my author profile page and start with NPH 1, as some or all of this will not make sense otherwise.**

**DISCLAIMER: I sadly do not own Criminal Minds, its storylines or characters. I can only claim to manipulate them for the purposes of this story.**

The Road to Nowhere – Chapter 1

Lieutenant Duke Phillips from the Arkansas State Police and Sergeant Mick Farris from the Missouri State Highway Patrol waited for the lift on the ground floor of FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia in strained anticipation. No one quite knew what to make of the information they carried with them but they knew; between them they had over 40 years of policing experience and they just knew that what they had was bigger than both of their states combined. Their bosses had suggested they take this trip with the air of men who weren't really sure what to make of it but knew that the FBI would. Their wives had listened to their suspicions and told them to follow their gut instincts and do what they knew to be right.

Gut instinct was telling them they had a serial killer working in _both_ their states...and that it was the same killer.

As the lift fed them to the 6th floor of the building, their only task in front of them today was to convince the Behavioural Analysis Unit of what they knew.

Neither man was sure they could but they knew they weren't leaving til they did.

New Section-

"Em'ly come on! We're gonna miss the ride!"

Emily finally found what she'd heard buzzing in her backpack for the last couple of minutes and wished she hadn't as she took in the missed calls and the urgent messages sitting in her inbox on her phone. She looked up as Aaron and Jack returned to her. Aaron looked concerned and Jack just looked petulant and impatient. She hated being the bearer of bad news, especially as Jack had been anticipating this day since New Year's when he'd been told they were going as a unit but it needed to be said.

"Aaron, has your phone gone off? Cause mine's going crazy."

He slipped off his own backpack as Emily crouched down in front of Jack. "Hey Jack-Jack. I know how very much you wanted this day to be perfect, but I have to go to work and I'm pretty certain daddy has to come with me. If you like we can call aunt Jess and uncle Mitch to come spend the rest of the day here with you but we need to leave so it's up to you."

A couple of big tears rolled down Jack's face as he whimpered, "Don't want to be here without you. Can't you stay with me?"

She pulled him into a hug. "I'm so sorry Jack but I promise we'll make it up to you as soon as we can."

She stood with the boy wrapped around her body and crying and turned to Aaron. He held up his phone with an annoyed look. "It's dead. I know for a fact it was fully charged this morning but it is dead now."

"Maybe the battery's loose?" She suggested as they moved towards the exit. "I'll play around with it on the way."

Once they were on their way, Emily phoned Jess and asked her to meet them in Quantico to pick up Jack. Once she was finished with the call, she pulled Aaron's phone apart to see if she could get it to work.

"Jess will pick Jack up from Quantico in about an hour. This phone is really dead. You're going to need to request a new one when we get to work."

He nodded agreement and said quietly, "What do you want to tell everyone about why we are together?"

"The truth; that I am spending time with you and Jack in an attempt to help Jack cope with the loss of his mother. We simply stick with the plan and don't mention the rest."

New Section-

By the time they reached Quantico, Jack was tired, grumpy and clingy. Emily lifted him out of the car and he refused to let go, so she carried him into the building and up to the 6th floor where they worked. All the way both adults explained why he'd have to wait in his father's office when they arrived at their destination. Jack didn't reply and when they went to set him down they found he'd fallen asleep.

"Both his hands are tangled in my hair; might as well leave him with me while we find out what is so urgent. You can untangle him when Jess arrives."

Aaron nodded and made the subtle shift from father to profiler that few would even notice. Emily smiled slightly as she watched the change. There was just something so very appealing about both halves of this man that made her wish they were anywhere but here and very alone.

She followed him into the meeting room and allowed him to pull out her chair when she couldn't easily do it herself as she said hello to the group around the room.

"New profiler in town I see," Derek teased and she shrugged slightly.

"By the time I realised he'd fallen asleep, his fingers were well and truly tangled in my hair and considering how grumpy he is, we thought it better to let him sleep. His aunt will be here shortly to collect him and in the meantime we can find out what was so all-fired urgent that we were all called in during a stand down week to look at a case."

JJ cleared her throat. "I'm the one at fault here and there wasn't anyone else to call. These gentlemen are Lieutenant Duke Phillips of the Arkansas State Police in their Criminal Investigation Unit and Sergeant Mick Farris from the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The two men arrived in my office this morning without an appointment and said enough in 30 seconds that I decided to hear them out. By the time they were done I was convinced and I called you all in.

"Lieutenant, you described it best. Why don't you tell my team here what you believe you have."

Duke Phillips sighed and ran a tired hand through his hair. "You need to understand, neither Missouri nor Arkansas State Patrols work together on a normal basis. But Mick and I have been close friends since high school and we still meet at a little diner on the border between our two states at least once a month to catch up on life and share how our growing families are doing.

"Our last dinner was three days ago and I mentioned an unusually high amount of cars with victims in the White River that runs through both our states and Mick reluctantly admitted that he'd noticed the same and that with the exception of a family car and one carrying a bunch of football jocks, all the cars victims had been female."

Reid interrupted here. "The White River is sourced from the Boston Mountains in northwest Arkansas, in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest southeast of Fayetteville and flows northwards through both Arkansas and Missouri. The rivers' volume is over 8,200 cubic feet per second with as much as 40,000 cubic feet per second during flooding which would be occurring now. What makes you think these events are nothing more than just women not treating danger signs accordingly?"

"You mean apart from the fact that men are twice as likely to do something dangerous on the roads just because it wouldn't be manly to follow road signs or heed warnings?" Emily asked with a snort and raised eyebrow that brought a few chuckles around the room.

Duke coughed slightly to cover his own chuckle as Reid went red and mumbled an apology. "Between our states we might normally have three vehicles each at the max, that land in this river for the entire three month season and for the most part, despite the speed with which the river runs during spring flooding, fatalities are usually low due to regular patrolling on that body of water picking up survivor's quite quickly. Mixed groups too, some men, some women, some families. Nothing specific and everything just random dumb luck.

"This year I've had six cars in the river with women in them. All dead _inside_ the vehicles with no signs that they tried to get out prior to being swept away. Mick has had four cars if you discount the two I mentioned earlier. We're only _one_ month into the season."

"All with dead women in them?" Derek asked in a stunned voice.

"_All_ dead. All told, 39 women are dead across the 10 vehicles. Different ages too; the youngest group were in their mid to late teens and the oldest woman was a 65 year old grandmother of three. The stories from their families are all similar though. Nothing unusual in the week leading up to the incident. On the day death occurs, the women are usually out on road trips, though we did have one car that was simply travelling through Branson on their way to Kansas. They stopped in Branson for about an hour and an hour later they were all dead in the river and we were fishing their bodies out. Families all state that for the most part, all were sensible, level-headed women who would never have attempted an unsafe crossing at a flooded bridge or section of road.

"We've _never_ had anything like this happen before and we aren't sure we can keep it out of the media much longer. Once it's out, people will panic and fatalities will start to happen on their own. It's bad enough we think we are dealing with a serial killer working both our states; we don't need to add naturally occurring incidents to the workloads all agencies are already dealing with."

No one said anything for several moments as the enormity of what they were being told sunk in. It was Hotch who asked quietly, "Are your superiors inviting us in to help or is it possible that we'll be fighting with the local authorities on this as we investigate?"

"Our superiors aren't sure what to make of all this," Sgt Farris spoke up for the first time. "My boss is quite frankly baffled by the whole thing and said if I could convince the FBI that something was going on, he wouldn't stand in your way and would provide all resources you may need to investigate thoroughly."

"My boss said it was my call and if I believed something was happening he'd back me up because he's never known me to be wrong before."

"Someone very sadistic is somehow torturing these women to death and unless someone comes to help us out the death toll could very well be in the hundreds before this season's out and that is something neither of us want to have to see or deal with."

Hotch looked about the room and got a nod from everyone. They all believed they had a case here and they would do what was necessary to deal with it.

"We believe you, gentlemen. How are you getting back?"

"We weren't sure how long it would take to convince you of what we had and neither of us wanted to go back alone so we only booked the tickets to get here. We figured we'd sort the rest out once we did what we set out to do."

"Then you'll travel back with us on the jet. Wheels up in an hour people. JJ, tell Garcia I want her with us on this one. We need to get our information faster than normal and having her with us will expedite this and speed up the process."

End-

**A/N: References on the river and both states are from Wikipedia and information further on in the story regarding the unsub's behavioural characteristics and profile are courtesy of information I pulled from the Criminal Minds fanwiki glossary page.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Any inaccuracies or inconsistencies in this story are completely my fault. I only hope you won't hold them against me. **

**WARNING: This story has been rated M due to violence and adult themes. Please heed the warning and be aware that some of the content may not be suitable for younger readers.**

The Road to Nowhere – Chapter 2

No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow. Euripides

They sat on the jet after it had taken off. The information they did have was spread out across the table they were gathered around and they were ready to expand their knowledge and start building a rudimentary profile.

"Let's work this. Lieutenant, Sergeant, what made you link up all the cars except the first two?"

"First off, call me Duke. Despite my rank, I was never a stickler for formality. As to the cars, they all had several things in common. Death was the biggest one; neither of the first two cars had fatalities. In every instance we examine the cars to see if it is a fault of the car that caused the incident or the stupidity of the drivers. This is now protocol because we've had a few lawsuits slapped on towns governing local crossings because of lack of signage in the past.

"The ten cars we believe to be linked were all found to have some telling signs. The engines all appeared to be overheated. The heat gauges in 7 of the vehicles froze in the hot zone on the gauge at the moment of impact with the river. After speaking with families, the owners of the cars had checked them thoroughly before heading off on their trips and 5 families confirm coolants and water were topped up. In all cases, all cars were out of water and coolant, with no visible signs of cuts or tearing in their hoses."

"Tires that were in a couple of cases brand new just prior to the incidents were worn down to almost nothing and in a couple of cases we found evidence that they were still accelerating even with flat tires. Add to that brake pedals stuck to the floor as if someone has pushed it to the floor trying to stop a speeding car and the speed panel showed speeds at the very top of what the car was designed to drive and we knew it was the same MO. Car doors also appear to be locked in nine of the cases. The tenth case didn't have a central locking system. What we can't figure out is why they are locking their doors, accelerating beyond madness and using brakes that obviously don't work."

"I have a better question for you Sergeant," Emily said. When he raised an eyebrow, she continued, "What would make ten drivers _drive_ their cars into the White River with passengers _in_ their cars with them."

Mick Farris sighed. "That we haven't been able to figure out either. If it was suicide the cars would be empty. But not one family reported issues with any of the women struggling with depression or the like. It is almost uncanny how often we are hearing of good women, good lives, everything to live for, happy. The why and the how are big questions we don't even have theories for and when you've been at this job for as long we have, you usually have at least one theory by now."

"We have only one case where the unsub actually used his car to kill his victims, by running them down. I'm not even sure what you'd need to do to tamper with a car to render it unable for anything but accelerating. Reid?"

Reid frowned and shook his head. "I'm not sure Hotch. I'd have to do a bit of research."

"What about a signal of some kind?"

Everyone turned to look at Garcia and she gulped but pressed on when she saw the encouragement from her team.

"I don't quite know how you'd engineer it, but most new cars are computer driven to some degree. Something within the workings could be putting out a signal that disrupts all driving abilities bar the one the unsub needs to fulfil whatever sick delusion this puppy is using. Something that wouldn't show up when the cars are examined. Problem is, it could be transmitting from anywhere in the vehicle to be successful so it would be hard to pinpoint an origin."

"Reid, focus on that theory but if you have any more, see what you can find. Garcia, help him if he needs it. Now what about a why?"

"We've never seen an offender like this, but I'd say he'd be extremely sophisticated."

"I agree with Morgan; figuring out how to put a car in the river without leaving evidence is pretty impressive."

"Rossi's right. With no physical evidence to go on, we don't even know if we are looking for a man or a woman."

"You think a _woman_ could do something like this?" Duke asked incredulously.

Emily shrugged. "Depends on what the motive behind all this is and _that_ is something we just don't have answers to as yet. But if it doesn't have anything to do with brute force, I don't think we can rule out a female unsub at this stage." Everyone nodded agreement of this.

"What does the timeline look like?" Derek asked.

"Both the family and the jocks were in the river in the first day of flooding and both admitted they were on the bridges when the waters just suddenly rose up and swept them off. We personally think the jocks attempted the crossing thinking their vehicle could handle the half foot of water, but that is beside the point. 9 days after that, the first vehicle was in the river. Over the next week, another one went in. Then it stopped and we just figured we got really unlucky and that would be that. We ensured all signs were up and clearly visible no matter what the weather conditions were like and we went about business as usual.

"The next week was free of incidents and then in this fourth week we had another two. We were still trying to figure out exactly where the last car entered the river when I stopped for dinner to try to unwind and we figured we had a pattern."

Duke Phillips took over. "We had a bad start to the flooding season. Two cars in the river in the first week, all dead. I was pretty suspicious straight away simply because this location isn't normally used throughout the year and definitely _not_ when the river is this high. After three camping families were swept away in the night 8 years ago, you couldn't _pay _anyone enough to have them be in that location between the months of February and June. So we put a couple of patrols in the area in case people had started to forget and things stopped for a week. Then the week after that I had four cars in the river over five days and going in four separate locations. Then it stopped again."

"So we are looking for someone who is local; someone who knows the areas and roads around the river so well they know where to send the car in. Maybe someone who travels back and forth along the river for work?"

"The river is for the most part navigable its entire length so it could be someone either travels alongside it by road and knows the areas around it or someone who actually works in a boat on the river. But why this river? It's not the longest or even the most well known."

"Garcia?"

"On it like bears on honey sir." She immediately started typing on her laptop.

"What can victimology tell us?"

"It's all over the place. We have different ages, races, socioeconomic backgrounds, locations. The only thing we know for sure is that they target women."

"So the unsub is organised and intelligent enough to set up the cars to go into the river leaving no traces of origin. They'd have to be sadistic though to do something like this and watch innocents suffer. Drowning isn't slow and causing fear and panic in advance is a brutal way to torture someone. Could whoever is doing this be getting off on it somehow?"

"That's sick," Mick muttered.

"But highly likely," Hotch said. "The victims are far too random for this to be because of revenge and you said yourself, one of the groups was from out of state. The only other likely reason would be because something about this causes a sexual release they can't get anywhere else. We won't discount revenge, but I'd be extremely surprised if that was the motive. I'd also be extremely surprised if this unsub turned out to be a woman; it's just too cold and merciless for a woman to pull off. Garcia, start digging into the backgrounds of the victims. See who is linked to each other and who isn't. Also, go back a week before each incident and see what each woman did. I want to know if there is anything all of these women had in common; a movement or a purchase. Anything to explain how they specifically are being targeted."

"Yes sir. I should probably warn you that this might take a little time to collate though. It's a lot of lives for me to go through."

"Reid and JJ, help Garcia with the victimology. Reid, the how of this is important too but so is the geography. I know it's a lot to ask of the three of you but we have too many deaths on our hands as it is. We need to hit the ground running and not lose momentum until this is done.

"Prentiss, you and Morgan will stay in Arkansas with Duke. Look at everything. Rossi and I will go to Branson in Missouri. Reid, JJ and Garcia will stay and work out of the office in Fayetteville with Prentiss and Morgan. I don't need to tell you how time sensitive this one is. Any questions?"

No one had any, but Emily groaned silently as JJ and Garcia eyed her gleefully. They'd been shooting her looks ever since she'd turned up with Jack and Hotch in tow. They'd put the case first for sure, but there was no way they wouldn't dig into her relationship with their boss if they found even a minute to talk. She also appreciated the fact that Hotch was trying to secretly prove they could continue to work together without issues but pairing her with Derek was the worst thing he could have done because Rossi would ask and back off if she asked him to. Derek would be like a dog with a favoured bone; no way was he not going to ask until he got answers.

_So much for keeping secrets among this lot,_ Emily thought with another inward sigh as everyone made themselves comfortable for the rest of the flight.

End-

**A/N: References on the river and both states are from Wikipedia and information further on in the story regarding the unsub's behavioural characteristics and profile are courtesy of information I pulled from the Criminal Minds fanwiki glossary page.**

**As always, I love reviews, so please feel free to let me know what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Any inaccuracies or inconsistencies in this story are completely my fault. I only hope you won't hold them against me. **

**WARNING: This story has been rated M due to violence and adult themes. Please heed the warning and be aware that some of the content may not be suitable for younger readers.**

The Road to Nowhere – Chapter 3

He stood and watched the waters rush and rage and he could feel the same rhythm in his blood, caressing him and driving him crazy with wanting. He could feel his release, so close, but without that car, it was useless. He'd tried it by hand as his daddy had once shown him but he'd only hurt himself and caused strain in his wrist from overuse. He _needed_ the car for release. He'd woken after the most erotic dream of his life barely able to move from the pain. He needed a car or two, fast.

New Section-

_You are so dead. Do you have any idea what you did putting me with these THREE terriers? There won't be anything left of me by the time they're done. You suck!_

Hotch laughed. He couldn't help it as he read the text on the screen.

"Care to share the joke? I could use a laugh right about now," Sergeant Farris said as he pulled the car into the parking space in front of the Branson Police Department.

"My girlfriend is pissed with me because I handed her to the wolves who are her friends."

"And that's funny?"

"Only because she herself is as amused as much as pissed."

"Ah. Well, I can't say that makes much sense but as long as it isn't a bad thing, I guess it doesn't matter. This way gentlemen."

Rossi and Hotch fell into step and Rossi lowered his voice as he moved closer. "You in the doghouse with Emily?"

Hotch looked at him startled, then wondered why he was surprised his friend had figured it out. He handed the phone to Dave and waited for the chuckle as he handed the phone back.

"I am curious why you didn't keep her with you."

"All yesterday at the fair, people were saying what a cute family we made together and Emily kept correcting them, stating she was just my girlfriend and not my wife. We were going to keep our relationship secret for a time but I guess she annoyed me more than I thought."

"Do you want to marry her?"

"I'm not sure yet, I mean we've only been together since Christmas and we are intending to take things slow but what I do know is that I have growing feelings for her that have nothing to do with my gratefulness over what she is doing for Jack. I want to be free to enjoy that without having to hide it but since I can't do that at large without Strauss landing on my head with both feet, I'll do it secretly within the team because I trust all of you to help us keep up a consistent work-only front. I simply haven't found a minute since I came to that conclusion to tell her."

"Your secrets safe with me. Do yourself a favour though and take a minute to either reply to that text or phone her. She'll feel better about it if you do."

New Section-

Upon arriving at the Fayetteville PD, Duke had introduced them around and helped them set up in the boardroom that had been put aside for them. He'd had a couple of officers bring in the photos and reports he'd gathered and they'd taken time to go over them, get the timeline on the board along with photos and get established.

After going over everything a second time, Emily had suggested going to talk to a crew that regularly worked on the river with the state water patrol to get an inside into exactly what would happen to the car on the river. Derek thought it was a good idea, but wanted to stay at the station to help the others and get the profiles sorted out. So Duke had radioed ahead, found a team taking a break for lunch willing to wait for her to get there before they headed back out and had assigned an officer to drive her.

Now she submitted to the captain of The White River Rush, the most advanced of the water rescue boats, Jim Shane as he assisted her into the gear necessary to wear while out on the river.

"You ever been out on a river in flood before?"

"A couple of times with my grandfather; he owned a cabin in the French Alps and I would often visit him for Christmas and stay til summer. He liked to go fishing and a flooded river was no obstacle to him. He taught me early how to be safe. If it helps any, I did a couple of stints as a life guard on summer vacation in California. I'm comfortable on the water, I'm a strong swimmer and I know how to stay safe."

"Excellent, I might give you a crash course in rescuing victims from the river as we go, if you're interested."

Emily smiled and nodded and inwardly winced. He wasn't openly flirting with her, but she could see the interest in his eyes. Not good.

Five minutes later, the craft headed off on the river and Jim started with the introductions.

"Everyone, this is SSA Emily Prentiss from the FBI in Quantico. Her team is investigating the high number of vehicles in the river this year. Agent Prentiss,"

"Emily," she interrupted with an easy smile.

"Okay then. Emily, this is my crew. Todd Weston is the driver and he knows every current, eddy and rock from the top to the bottom. Kade Hamilton is the medic on board with us today and is filling in for my regular who is away on maternity leave at the moment. Then the rest of the crew is Alex Whittcombs, Sean Davies and Zane Harris. Each boat always carries the captain and a crew of five including the medic. It's standard procedure. Everyone on board knows what to do in the case of a car going in the river and we move as a team. Considering we haven't had any cars for a week, we are probably due,"

"Bite your tongue captain," Sean called out.

"So I'll show you what to do. Might as well see if we can put you to good use while you are with us. You can ask your questions as we go."

"How long would you normally spend in one shift on the water?"

Over the next hour, she asked questions that might be useful and was drilled in what to do in an emergency. After that, she took a seat and listened to the conversation around her. The guys were joking about the strength of the water and the times they'd had to fight that strength, the cold and a panicked victim all at the same time. Despite the teasing, she could see how close these men were to each other and she knew that no matter what, they had each others' backs much the same way the BAU team did.

The sound of a helicopter in the air nearby caught her attention and she turned her head up, glad for the wrap-around sunglasses she'd brought with her.

"Do you have rescue choppers?"

"No," Kade said sourly. "But we do have reporters and several of them were sniffing around this week about the high amount of cars and fatalities in the water. I said it was nothing more than the normal incidents we get during spring flooding, but they didn't look like they believed me. This just proves it."

"I'll get Hotch and JJ on it," Emily murmured as they watched the chopper keep pace with them.

"Who're they?" Jim asked as they passed another craft heading up river.

"My boss and our media liaison. JJ is in Fayetteville with some of the others and Hotch is in Branson with one of my other teammates investigating the Missouri side of things. He'll be the one to decide what we do or don't say to the press. Keeping it quiet for now is a good tack to take because it minimises panic."

Kade grinned, obviously relieved that he'd done nothing wrong.

Todd suddenly called out, "We're at the border. Turning around and heading up river now."

"So we patrol to the Missouri border and back again?"

"Us and the other boat you saw, yes. Then Missouri patrols take over from there and we have another one further down river for when it loops back into the state before it reaches the Missouri River."

A flash of light to the side of the river caught her attention and she turned to study the bank as they cruised along. When she saw the light flash again, she realised she could hear an engine underneath the distant sound of the chopper and the closer sound of the boat's purring engines.

She moved to where Todd was steering the boat and asked, "Is it common for locals to use the dirt tracks in the woods to drive?"

"Not normally. There are so many unmarked roads even the locals sometimes get lost for days trying to find their way around back here. And there are only a few isolated properties the entire length of the river but they usually have a set track that takes them to the main road closest to them and their owners tend to prefer their privacy anyway; not taking much to visitors." He frowned as he squinted through the glass and after looking around at the river, eased the boat closer to the side. "I can't really see the truck that clearly, but it doesn't look like one of the one's I've seen in the past. He looks like he's tracking the river, which is also unusual. The river can still surge, even after the first month of flooding. That could be dangerous. Looks like he's stopped now though."

He eased back on the throttle as they passed the small clearing where the truck had been parked just under the trees. Emily squinted, trying to make out the colour, make and plates but found she couldn't clearly see them. She pulled out her camera and quickly snapped a few shots. Figuring out what she needed, Todd threw the engine in reverse and eased them closer still. She couldn't see anyone, but she hoped the pictures she was snapping would reveal more once they were developed. It might be nothing, but her gut was saying something was off about this. Then the radio crackled to life. "Code black White River Rush. Two cars in the river. I repeat, two cars in the river. Code black." The coordinates followed and Todd shot her an apologetic look as he sent the boat rocketing forward.

She quickly made her way back to Jim and the others as all the equipment was checked in preparation for the rescue to come.

"Emily, with two cars in the river, we are really going to be racing time. I feel you could be an asset here but it is easily going to be one of the most dangerous things you will ever do. The choice is entirely up to you. Will you help us?"

New Section-

Hotch pulled out his phone and checking the number, hit the speakerphone button. "Yes Garcia, what do you have for me?"

"Turn on the tv sir. The Arkansas State News had a chopper in the air over the river when two cars went in."

Farris grabbed the remote and flicked channels til he found the right one. Footage showed the two cars in the river, with a boat already at work trying to unload one of the cars and another boat powering into view.

"We were watching it when it first happened; it was a live update. They were saying it was quiet on the river today when suddenly those two cars just shot out of the trees in front of them and into the river. The first boat was already there and radioed the other one for help."

"Hotch, Emily is on the other boat."

"What?"

"She said it could bring valuable insight to the investigation to talk with the teams actually on the river about the conditions they deal with every day and I agreed with her. I said I'd stay here and continue working on the profiles. Duke got her onto the White River Rush. She's right down there in the thick of it."

Hotch felt the blood drain entirely from his face as his gaze returned to the tv and the drama unfolding before them.

New Section-

Emily checked her anchoring line again as they pulled in alongside the car the other boat hadn't started to help yet. Beside her, Sean did the same. She'd help the passengers in the back while Sean got the ones out of the front. Jim and Alex would watch their lines and take the rescued from them and Zane was tasked with watching for anything that might pose a threat to the rescue operation. Todd would continue to drive and Kade was waiting to see to their medical needs.

The car was filling with water fast as the current pulled it down river and she could see the panic on the face of the mother trying desperately to get a window open. Her blood ran cold to see the teenager in the front seat and the three little kids in the back.

She hefted the small axe she'd been given and aimed it at the top of the window. The boy staring at her with huge eyes seemed to realise what was going to happen and threw his body away from the window as she brought it down hard. The window shattered immediately and she quickly knocked out the excess glass, only just getting her body out of the way as the boat and car suddenly came in violent contact.

"We have anchorage, but it isn't going to last long, not today. The current's too strong."

Emily smiled at the boy. "Hey there. I bet you want to get out of the car right?"

He nodded anxiously but turned to the girl beside him and pushed her forward first. Emily eased her out of the car as she made soothing noises and handed her back to Jim. They weren't going to put her so completely in the middle of the rescue until they realised they had kids in the car who would react better to a woman's presence than to a man's. As she turned back to the car, she wished like anything it was anyone else in her position.

She quickly turned back to the boy. "I can't get him out of the seat, he's stuck."

"It's okay. If you come out of the car, I can get in to cut him out of the seatbelt."

The boy nodded and made his way to her. He helped her ease him through the window, then threw his body at his mother where she embraced her daughters. Four down, one more to go.

New Section-

"No no no no! They're ruining everything! Stop it; you're ruining _everything!"_

He watched as his chosen aphrodisiac appeared in his view. One of the cars was already sinking out of sight, completely empty. The other one only appeared to have a couple of kids in it and as he watched, a woman in a life vest attached to the side of the rescue boat helped out another.

Rage powered through him and mixed with his desperate need to attain release from the hold his body had on him. But as he watched the unfolding tableau, he knew only one woman's death would do it for him now and for her, it would have to be extra special.

New Section-

"I need a knife to cut him loose."

"Hurry with it. The ropes are fraying and Todd's having trouble keeping the boat steady with the additional weight attached."

She eased her body into the back of the car and felt the rope go taught a moment before Jim eased her some slack. The baby was screaming for his mother and struggling to keep his head above the water that was so high on his side of the car. She took a breath and went under the water to cut the belt loose. The cold soaked her through immediately despite her gear and she shuddered as she worked. She'd just gotten it loose and was attempting to calm the child now in her arms when she heard several snaps that made her blood run cold. Seconds later, the rope around her waist pulled taught and yanked her back against the doorframe hard enough to snap her head back against the roof.

Then the tension in the line disappeared and the car started to sink under the water. _The ropes attached to the boat must have broken_ she realised as she looked at the baby in her arms. He'd stopped screaming, but he was clearly terrified as large tears rolled down his face.

"Hey little guy, I know you're scared but I need you to take a deep breath and hold it. Can you do that for me?"

End-

**A/N: References on the river and both states are from Wikipedia and information further on in the story regarding the unsub's behavioural characteristics and profile are courtesy of information I pulled from the Criminal Minds fanwiki glossary page.**

**As always, I love reviews, so please feel free to let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Any inaccuracies or inconsistencies in this story are completely my fault. I only hope you won't hold them against me. **

**WARNING: This story has been rated M due to violence and adult themes. Please heed the warning and be aware that some of the content may not be suitable for younger readers.**

The Road to Nowhere – Chapter 4

Rossi looked at his friend and grimaced slightly. "Hotch, you aren't going to help anything if you pass out from lack of oxygen. Breathe dammit! Farris when they find Prentiss and the child, where will they take them?"

"Most likely they'll bring them here to Branson, to the Skaggs Regional Medical Centre. They won't stop at the border like they do when they're patrolling. They'll stay with the rescue no matter how far it takes them and there is the border now."

"There," one of the officers shouted, pointing to the tv. "Bottom left of the screen."

They all looked to see Emily had surfaced and was attempting to swim to the side of the river with the child she'd rescued clinging to her back. As they watched, they could hear the chopper pilot relaying to the rescue boat that they'd also seen her. The boat shot across the river and eased into position a couple of meters away. One of the men on the boat leapt into the water with ropes attached and swam to her, fighting the water all the way. They watched as he attached the spare he had to her and took the child from her as they were pulled back to the safety of the boat.

A cheer filled the office and Farris quickly grabbed his keys. "Come on, we can meet them at the centre and you can interview the victims to see what they have to say."

Seeing the look on Hotch's face, Dave seriously doubted checking in with the victims was his partners' number one priority.

New Section-

Emily grumbled as she sat on the stretcher Kade had insisted she get on as she was wheeled into the medical centre in Branson. The back of her head couldn't decide if it was in a lot of pain or numb to it and she was cold, but apart from that she felt fine. Kade himself had said this was just a precaution but if it was, she didn't know why she had to be wheeled in when she could have walked.

"Emily!"

She smiled slightly, hiding her wince as she turned her head and it pulled sore muscles in the back of her neck.

"Don't look so worried guys. I'm fine, really. It's just a light bump on the head. They'll check me over to be on the safe side and then they'll probably let me go within the hour. No big deal. They're fishing the cars out of the river as we speak. Get someone to look at the one I was working on. I swear I could hear a high-pitched whine as it went under."

"I'll go call the others and let them know she's okay. Remember to breathe."

Emily watched Dave walk off and turned back to the man who was her boss and her heart's true desire and decided he needed a distraction from his obvious worry.

"Did you get my message?"

He smiled just slightly as he took a deep breath in and watched as she was transferred from the stretcher to the bed. Nurses helped her out of her wet top and attached leads to her chest and a suddenly hungry look entered his eyes as he took in her near-naked skin.

"Hey, focus up here buddy. Did you get my message?"

"Yes I got it. I was thinking about how to reply to it when Garcia called to tell us to turn on the tv. How bad was it?"

She shot him a sour look. "JJ and Garcia were merciless in their questioning from the moment you drove off and all the way to the station. Reid was completely oblivious to what they were getting at until Derek the sceezy scumbag Morgan set him straight and suddenly _everyone_ wanted to know what was going on between us. Duke Phillips was no help _whatsoever_; he just laughed his head off and encouraged everyone else to keep digging. Then when we arrived at the station I was so relieved I could have kissed someone only to remember that my girls can multitask and _then_ I discovered that even Derek is skilled at doing more than one thing at a time. So to answer your question, it was _really_ bad and _you_ are in _loads_ of trouble."

More than one nurse cleared her throat and the doctor listening to her chest coughed to hide his chuckle as he instructed her to take a deep breath in and out. She shot him a look too for good measure and decided to ignore everyone for now.

Once the doctor had finished his examination, he smiled at her. "I'll get Bridget to find you a set of scrubs you can wear and we'll bag up your wet clothes for you. You were lucky; the knock to the back of your head wasn't too serious and apart from being colder than normal for a few days, you should recover without an issue. Someone will need to wake you every hour, on the hour, tonight just to be on the safe side but I think you should be just fine. I'll give you a sheet of painkillers for the headache and arrange your paperwork so you can get out of here."

She murmured a thank you as the room cleared out and she was left with the man who was obviously torn as to whether to be her boss or her boyfriend in that moment. She made it easy for him.

"Ask your questions now and focus on the case since there was a clear escalation today. You can fuss over me when this is over."

"Promise?"

"I prom..." her breath hitched in her throat as his lips claimed hers in a heated exchange. He didn't pull back until a throat cleared behind them.

"Don't _ever_ do that to me again. I was worried," he murmured as he rested his forehead against hers for several seconds before straightening and turning.

She peered around him and might have groaned if Dave hadn't looked so embarrassed.

"Sorry to interrupt, but a cute nurse named Bridget gave me these to give to you."

"Thanks. You don't look too surprised."

"Hotch showed me the message you sent him and provided me with an explanation. Before you kill him, he just wants to be able to develop his feelings for you with some freedom, which I think is very sweet and if I were you, I'd hear him out first and _then_ maim him."

He left the change of clothing and walked out the door whistling.

Emily watched him go with narrowed eyes. "Did he remind you of Jess just now?"

Aaron laughed quietly and closed the door. "Let's get you changed and you can tell us all about what you heard and witnessed."

She raised an eyebrow as she noticed he wasn't leaving, but let it go as he helped her shivering body ease into the scrubs, his hands unbelievably gentle as they brushed her bare skin. He pulled her hair back, brushed it out with his fingers and found a tie to pull it back with. His lips brushed her suddenly bare neck and she moaned softly as she moved her head carefully to the side to give him better access.

"I hope you two aren't making out in there. We really don't have time."

Aaron groaned. "Maybe I shouldn't have told him we were dating."

Emily laughed softly and padded to the door. Dave grinned at her from the other side of the frame as she opened it. "You're gonna be a pain in my ass, aren't you."

"Only where it is required to keep either of you from getting into trouble with Strauss at a later date. Come, we have interviews to conduct."

New Section-

2 hours later they were on their way to Arkansas. Branson had yielded very little in the way of information and all the mother and teenager could report was that one minute they were having a heated argument over a boy and then the car was out of control. Nothing stood out as odd in the week leading up to the incident and they didn't notice anything strange in the car before it started to accelerate. They were all hoping Derek and Reid would have more information from their interviews.

"Hello my pretties. Give us 30 seconds and we will all be here for your entertainment."

"Who's missing?"

"Boy genius and my chocolate coated heaven. Another car went in the river while you were busy. They went to interview the guy pulled out of the river."

"They pulled a _man_ out of the river?"

"Like I said, give us a bit here and we can find out if it's even connected. How's Wonder Woman doing?"

"She's having a lovely time away from the romance terriers," Emily called from the back seat, where she was snuggled up in Hotch's jacket, with a blanket and a pillow to ward against the cold she still felt.

Garcia snorted. "Sugar, you would be having way more fun with us if you'd just spill the beans. We could even arrange chocolate coated popcorn and girly movies if you like."

"Not likely. Are Morgan and Reid back yet?"

Hotch and Rossi exchanged amused smiles as Emily changed the subject.

"You can run baby but you can't hide. I shall ferret it out sooner or later. Right now though, we are all present and accounted for."

"Morgan, Garcia said another car went in the river?"

"Hotch this is just getting weirder and weirder. Somehow cars are going in the river though we still aren't sure how yet but at least we have a type narrowed down and there is only a car at a time, all during the day. Then all in one day we get two cars, one with kids in it and a third car late in the evening as the sun is setting and the occupant is a male. Yet he reports the same things the female driver I interviewed today did. One second she's driving along and nothing seems out of the ordinary. Then suddenly the wheel jerks slightly, the locks activate and the speed of the car begins to increase exponentially and it's like the car was driving itself. She said the most she could manage was a lane change whenever they came upon another vehicle. It simply wouldn't let her turn the wheel entirely. Nothing about this is making sense. Tonight it's almost like he was so desperate to get something he needed that he missed out on today that he'd take anything just to get by."

"Prentiss said something similar about the cars in the river today and what she heard from the victims. She also mentioned she heard a high-pitched whine as the car was sinking but she couldn't quite place where it might have been coming from."

"Could it have been from an electronic device of some kind, like a mobile phone?" Reid asked excitedly.

"I'm sorry; the water was cold and rising fast, my lines were jerking me all over the place and I had a screaming toddler on my hands so I couldn't really say for sure. Hotch, can we turn the heat up?"

He did that as Dave asked, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll let you know if I figure it out; it's just something I'm following at the moment. What did you guys find out?"

"Pretty much the same, but the mother and daughter were fighting so they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Too busy screaming at each other. What about linking up the victims?"

"Right, well, despite how many victims there are, there is almost no physical connection. Any family connections tended to be in the same vehicle at the time of incident. No close friends were in other vehicles that were targeted and I can't even really link surviving family members. A few of them go to the same church, but that appears to be the only link. I'm still working through the week leading up to incidents and there are some common occurrences but none that might be helpful that I've found because I haven't found anything yet that _everyone_ did. I haven't finished with the digging yet, so I'll get back to you on that."

"Right then, keep at that. JJ.."

"Sir, sorry to interrupt, but I do have other information I think you should all hear. David Rossi wins a bowl full of cookies and cream with his suggestion that we look into the small portable electronic devices that may have been in the car at the time of entry to the river."

"I called Reid after speaking with Emily about the noise; I thought it might be worthwhile looking into it."

"Well, that's what Reid is chasing down and he's getting that intense slash excited look he gets on his face when he thinks he's close to something so we shall leave him to his sleuthing for now. Anyhow, Wonder Woman scored the apple pie with custard with the pictures of the vehicle she took just prior to the cars going in."

"What if I don't like cookies and cream. Could we swap prizes?"

"My apple pie," Emily said possessively as she yawned. Dave shot her a grin as she snuggled deeper into the warmth wrapping around her. "What did the pictures show?"

"A lot of them just showed me pretty green trees; obviously taking photos on a moving boat is _not_ your forte. _However_, you did get three really good shots of the truck and one of the images showed half a head from behind a tree. I'm working to enhance the images, but it's taking time because I don't have access to my usual equipment here. As soon as I do get anything, I'll let you know."

"You've done excellent work today, all of you, but it's getting late and to our knowledge, this unsub needs to see these vehicles in the river in order to fulfil whatever delusion he's playing out. You should all wrap things up and we'll come back on it first thing in the morning. Morgan, do we have enough for a profile?"

"I don't think we do. I can't get a bead on this guy and it's really beginning to piss me off."

"Fine, we'll continue working on that too in the morning. For now, we rest. JJ, Branson didn't yield anything useful and this guy is obviously back in Arkansas at the moment so that is where we are going to work out of from now on. Can you secure us a room where you're staying?"

"I wish I could, but there are several conventions in town at the moment not to mention a fair that hits town this time every year and draws record crowds from all over the state. Emily's got the only spare bed."

"That will work. Rossi can have the bed and I'll take the floor. We can take turns waking her up tonight."

"But what about my beauty sleep," Dave grumbled, tongue in cheek as everyone chuckled.

"How _is_ Emily?" Derek asked in concern.

"She's got a mild concussion, which is why she needs to be woken hourly and she'll be cold for a few days but otherwise she's fine."

He smiled as he looked in the rearview mirror. She was sound asleep, face buried in the lapel of his jacket and looking gorgeous and waif-like. Making sure she was alright tonight was going to be no hardship at all.

New Section-

"So are you really going to sleep on the floor?"

Aaron snorted as he gently set Emily under the covers Dave had pulled back on the bed that was obviously hers. "Of course not. I'm just protecting her need for privacy. I told you about us because I consider you a close friend and I need someone to keep us real when it comes to balancing this job and our growing relationship. When she tells everyone else about us is her business; I won't mess with that no matter how annoyed she gets me with her denials about what we are to each other." He gently stroked her hair back from her forehead as he covered her up.

He woke her up while Dave used the bathroom then used it himself before padding to the bed. Dave had already put out all the lights and was obviously asleep as his soft snoring filled the room. He slipped into the bed behind Emily and lightly pulled her back against him. She murmured softly as she rolled over and cuddled into his warmth. He soothed her with a light touch as he pulled her snug against him and slipped his knee between her legs. One arm went around her waist to rest just above her delectable derrière and the other slipped under her shoulders to get his hand close enough to tangle in her hair.

He sighed softly as contentment washed through him. It wasn't until he was drifting off to sleep that he realised that unconsciously, they'd both moved to mirror their favourite sleeping position from the time when they'd first met.

He wondered what the profiler in him would have to say about that?

End-

**A/N: References on the river and both states are from Wikipedia and information further on in the story regarding the unsub's behavioural characteristics and profile are courtesy of information I pulled from the Criminal Minds fanwiki glossary page.**

**As always, I love reviews, so please feel free to let me know what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Any inaccuracies or inconsistencies in this story are completely my fault. I only hope you won't hold them against me. **

**WARNING: This story has been rated M due to violence and adult themes. Please heed the warning and be aware that some of the content may not be suitable for younger readers.**

**Please also note that this chapter contains some language that is unsuitable for younger readers.**

**I want to thank the following people for reviewing this story so far:**

**Miaa29**

**fanficlover**

**Fairytopia**

**lolyncut**

The Road to Nowhere – Chapter 5

Emily woke feeling more comfortable than she could remember feeling for a long time. She stretched out her toes and would have extended the stretch up her body but a sexy male voice intruded on her sleepiness.

"Hey there sleeping beauty; did you rest well?"

She opened her eyes to find she was very securely pressed flush up against Aaron Hotchner and when she might have opened her mouth to berate him for getting too close, her traitorous body softened and pressed even closer with a happy wiggle.

He grinned. "I can see it in your eyes, the tug of war going on in your head. You want to continue with the slow and steady pace but your body remembers mine as well as I remember yours and you more than _want_ to take back up where we left off." He lifted a hand and gently stroked her cheekbone before sliding his fingers down her arm. "If it helps any, Dave is asleep in the next bed so we won't be doing too much."

She pushed up enough on his shoulder to put him on his back and peer over his body and sure enough, there was Dave, sound asleep with his back to them. She looked down at the man gazing up at her with such longing that it took her breath away and made a decision.

"I'm not rushing the pace any; you need to understand that. I want you s-so much but the last time we went down this road you b-broke my h-heart. I need more time to be sure I can trust you with it again."

His hand fisted in her hair as his eyes searched hers. "I'm only now beginning to understand what I cost you all those years ago and you need to know how very much I admire the strength and courage you showed that day you walked away and left me free to make my own choices. I'm sorry for the past, for the callous way I treated you; taking of your body and not caring for the consequences to your heart. It was incredibly selfish of me and incredibly wrong.

"But I know what I want this time and there is _no one_ else for me. You are my world and I have no doubt you always will be. I don't know for certain if this is love yet, but I promise not to mess with your emotions until I'm sure. Whatever you decide in the here and now, I will still respect you and I will still long for you with everything I am but what I will not do is insist on you giving me something you are not yet comfortable sharing with me again. I can wait, because I believe you are worth waiting for."

Emily felt a few of the shattered pieces of her heart bind back together as a couple of tears trailed down her cheeks. She couldn't doubt his honesty and his sincerity told her he thought she _was_ worth it. She dropped her head and touched her lips to his, the barest brush of lips, but they both felt it all the way to their toes.

Aaron closely watched the woman looking down at him. He could feel the precipice under his feet, knew that this moment signified the next with more importance than any he'd ever faced before. It was entirely her choice whether she placed her heart on the line again, for he knew that was what she was deciding as she looked down at him. The world had narrowed down to the look in her eyes as she studied him and weighed his worthiness.

He had the potential to ruin her for the rest of her life, to destroy her so completely she'd never recover and might as well be dead. But as she pulled apart and processed all he'd said and her heart's reaction to his speech, she also knew he was the _only_ one capable of putting all the pieces back together.

But did she dare risk it?"

New Section-

"You guys are late this morning. We were getting worried. Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine, we simply slept through the alarm," Hotch said he settled Emily into her chair and draped the extra jacket on the back of it in case she got cold despite the three layers she already had on.

JJ and Garcia exchanged speculative looks before looking across at Emily, who appeared tired, but content. She simply raised an eyebrow as she accepted the coffee Dave handed her with a murmured thanks. He settled into the free seat beside her and Hotch took a stance leaning against the wall opposite them as he sipped his own coffee.

"What did we miss exactly?"

"_Some_ people didn't sleep last night like they should have."

Reid sat up straight. "Hey! At least I have something to show for it. Garcia can't say the same."

"Hey! Give me another couple of minutes and I can too show everyone something."

They glared at each other as the group stifled smiles.

"Well Reid?"

"Oh, right, sorry Hotch. Okay, as you know I was looking into small devices that may have been causing the interference and I have discovered that all 13 vehicles had three things in common; there was at least one mobile phone, one portable music player and one GPS location system inside every vehicle. I doubt it's the phones or the music devices because the brands and carriers are all different. The GPS systems are a different story; all were designed by the same company, a small local manufacturer. Problem is that some of the devices were purchased several months ago and in two cases are several years old. I'm not sure how successful I'll be chasing down that angle but I'll keep at it. All the devices are on their way here as are several brands from out of state. If someone is manipulating them, I'll find it."

"Excellent work Reid."

"Something's been bugging me. If my car were suddenly out of control, I would be straight on the phone calling for help. Why are there no calls from any of the victims?"

"That's an excellent question Morgan. Why don't you make a couple of calls and follow up on whether anyone even tried. Reid?"

"It is possible that whatever is messing with the mechanics of the car is interfering with the local cell service but that would put the device in a whole other realm of sophisticated."

"Huh! Penelope Garcia gets a gold star and Emily Prentiss gets another apple pie with custard."

Emily leaned over to Dave and whispered, "I'll share this one with you." He grinned at her as they turned to face Garcia.

"As you all know, I was rendering the images our delightful Wonder Woman took and though most of them appear to be trees surrounded by still _more_ trees, there are two images that are going to work to our favour. One very nice shot of the back of the vehicle including registration tags and another image that shows half a body as he walks around a tree."

"Can you..."

"Run the tags? Already on it. The scumbag of the year award goes to...fudge buckets and candy canes." Everyone exchanged confused looks as she typed a bit more before slumping back in her seat. "The tags were decommissioned ten years ago."

"How about searching for the name attached to those tags when they were decommissioned?" Emily asked.

"See now my pretties, this is why Agent Prentiss is Wonder Woman; such wonderful suggestions that unfortunately aren't working out today. The tags were registered to Nathan Kreggs but were decommissioned when he died."

"Living relatives?"

"Good question boy genius and the answer is...one son, Peter Kreggs, now aged 24 and still living in the property his father built for his mother 44 years ago. And get this, he makes GPS devices for a living."

"Come on; let's go pick him up for questioning. Garcia, come with us; if he has a computer, I want access to it as soon as we can get it. We know he isn't anywhere near the vehicles when they go in the river but if there is a shred of evidence in his property, I want to nail his ass to the wall."

"Until we know for certain if the GPS is the culprit, no one use the one in your car, even if it wasn't made locally, just to be on the safe side. I don't want any incidents we could have prevented by being smart."

New Section-

Life was a delight, Emily thought as she arrowed her car down the highway. They'd been at the back of the cavalcade when she noticed they were nearly out of gas. So she'd called Derek, told him they would have to catch up and to go in without them. They, being Jennifer Jareau, Penelope Garcia and her. How that had happened, she still hadn't figured out.

_You know, I could just kill him. Then they wouldn't have anything to be talking about._

"You know, we are your friends. We have a right to.."

"Pry into my private life?"

"..to any juicy information you may be keeping close to the vest. It is your duty to keep us informed of the important things."

"And I will; if there is anything important to inform you about."

"Come on Em, we see the way Hotch looks at you and the way you look at him when he isn't looking."

"Yeah, and you would be such a cute couple."

"Jack already has the same colouring as you so there wouldn't be an issue there."

"And Hotch would worship and adore you."

"I bet he kisses like a dreamboat."

"Penelope!"

"What, like either of you haven't thought about it even once. Those lips were made for kissing."

"Shall I tell Kevin you said that?" JJ teased.

"You shall not! I'm just saying, is all. The two of you would be perfect together. And he.."

"Broke my heart."

".._is_ drop dead...honey, _what_ did you just say?"

Emily contemplated closing her eyes and banging her head on the steering wheel as her hands tightened causing the car to jerk slightly as her body tensed up but decided crashing the car wasn't worth it.

She sighed heavily. "Hotch and I met when I was fresh out of Yale and visiting my mother for the first time since I entered college. It was instant spontaneous combustion where we were concerned and I fell head over heels in love. But he was waiting for Haley to decide if he was definitely her one and when she came back at the end of the summer, you know the choices they both made."

Garcia leaned forward and placed a hand on Emily's shoulder and JJ did the same as she lifted a hand to swipe away a tear trickling down her chin.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories; I just have this urge to know that my family are all content and happy."

Emily felt touched that they cared so much, but the warm feeling fled as she noticed something of growing concern to her imminent wellbeing. She eased her foot of the accelerator as she shot a brief look at the GPS system attached to the socket built for it on the dash.

"Shit!"

"Em?"

"I've had my foot off the accelerator for the last minute."

There was a moment of silence in the car and then near panic set in as both JJ and Garcia started talking at once. Emily let them get the panic out of their systems as the car's speed crept higher and higher.

"Feel better ladies?"

"Not really, but it helped a touch," JJ admitted in a small voice.

"I thought I was just catching us up after we stopped for the gas but it isn't me anymore."

"Hey is that them up ahead?"

"Looks like it," Emily said grimly as she gripped the wheel tightly.

"Um, we're gonna plough right into the back of them if you don't change lanes soon."

"I know, but I have no desire to be flattened by a truck either and that's what I see a lot of coming towards us. Garcia, I need you to grab this GPS and see if you can figure out if it _is_ transmitting and turn it off. JJ, try all three phones and see if you can call the others."

As JJ pulled out her phone and attempted to get a call through, the car raced towards an intersection they thankfully had right of way at but which unfortunately showed a car obviously contemplating turning right in front of them.

"Oh my god, they're going to just pull right out in front of us, I can see it! We aren't even going to get close to the river; we're just going to crash into the back of a car. Oh my god, I'm going to die like my parents died!"

"Honey I know you're scared, but that is why all those other women died. I need you to stay really calm so that if we do end up in the river we can get away intact. Understand? And see, they waited for us to go past. We're still intact and we'll be fine, I promise. Think of things you like that are calming."

"Yes, yes of course you're right. Favourite things to calm down, um, puppies and kittens and warm woollen mittens. Right, focus Penelope, you can do this."

"Jayje, you with me here too?"

"Yeah Emily I'm with you. Do you think we'll really survive this?"

"If we keep our wits about us, yes. Have you had any luck getting through?"

"Not yet, I just get disconnected signals. I'm about to try Garcia's phone. God I wish Henry were here so I could cuddle him to make _me_ feel better."

"I was just thinking the same thing about Jack."

She eased the wheel to the side slightly as JJ dialled. She quickly pulled back in when a truck came flying past. Checking a second time, she gulped as she got close enough to the other vehicle to see Morgan had won the toss for the right to drive and he picked up the call.

"Hey baby girl. How far behind us are you?"

"You don't want to know," Emily stated and yanked the wheel hard. "Hang on ladies."

"Do I need to point to the oncoming truck?"

"No."

"Emily what are you doing?" Hotch demanded as the car flew past them.

"Trying to keep us alive long enough for you guys to come to the rescue."

"Uh Emily..."

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my GOD!"

"SHIT!"

New Section-

The four men exchanged looks are Garcia and JJ screamed and Emily cursed.

"Right, we're in our own lane again. And what are we doing?"

"Thinking of our favourite calming things?"

"Calm. Right, I don't think puppies, kittens and mittens are going to cut it this time though."

"Think of something sweet, like chocolate."

"Ladies will someone please tell us what is going on?"

"We're getting ready to go for a swim. See it's all in the preparation. Locks in place? Check. Car accelerating with my foot off the gas? Check. Trying to keep everyone from panicking while I avoid slamming into big trucks and my conscious is screaming 'Get me the fuck out of here'. Check. See? Preparation."

"I thought you made sure the GPS was off."

"Apparently we didn't check it closely enough," she snapped as she jerked them around another slow moving vehicle in front of them.

"This is not good," Reid said from the back.

"Kid, I think that just might be the understatement of the century."

They could no longer see the other car thanks to traffic and it's speed. "Hey Emily, I need you to let me know where you turn and such okay? Hotch is calling river rescue, they just need to know approximately where you are when you go in."

"Just as a precaution right? Cause Garcia's gonna figure it out and save the day."

"Of course she is."

"If we don't make it, tell Will I would have been honoured to be his wife and give Henry a cuddle from me and tell him his mother loved him more than anything."

"Don't you think it's a little premature..."

A bunch of short screams and a shrieked, "We're gonna tip over!" interrupted Rossi's admonishment.

"Okay then, I'll never play corners ever again. We just turned off the main road onto an unmarked dirt road. There was a field leading up to the turn and a bunch of cows in the near corner as we went around it."

"Hang on; we can't be too far behind you."

"Jayje is right. Um I love and adore all of you," Garcia whimpered slightly and took a huge, noisy breath, "but I love Kevin the most and I need one of you to tell him no one did it better for me. He'll understand what that means."

"Girls, stop it. Nothing's gonna happen to you."

"Hey guys, I think I can get this to stop emitting the signal!"

"Whatever you do Garcia, do it fast. I can hear the river up ahead."

"Oooh ooh ooh! Its powering down, its powering down! I think I did it."

"You _did_ do it" Emily stated excitedly as JJ cheered.

All four men breathed a sigh of relief as Derek slowed for the turn Emily had described a second before the sound of three women screaming was followed closely by the sound of tearing metal and shattering glass.

And then the phone went dead.

"Emily!"

End-

**A/N: References on the river and both states are from Wikipedia and information further on in the story regarding the unsub's behavioural characteristics and profile are courtesy of information I pulled from the Criminal Minds fanwiki glossary page.**

**As always, I love reviews, so please feel free to let me know what you think.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Any inaccuracies or inconsistencies in this story are completely my fault. I only hope you won't hold them against me. **

**WARNING: This story has been rated M due to violence and adult themes. Please heed the warning and be aware that some of the content may not be suitable for younger readers.**

**Please also note that this chapter contains some language that is unsuitable for younger readers.**

The Road to Nowhere – Chapter 6

"White River Rush to base; the car is not in the river. I repeat, the car is _not_ in the river!"

"Base to White River Rush; if the car isn't in the river, where the hell is it?"

New Section-

Where was it? The car should have been sinking as it floated past him with three terrified women in it. He'd watched them get in the car before he'd driven off to get in the best possible position to see it all clearly; he was sending them in at his favourite location. The one even the locals hadn't been able to find. It was a foolproof spot.

But they hadn't gone in.

His knees buckled as the adrenalin and anticipation left his body in a rush and he shuddered as he landed on the ground. The pain in his groin was constant now and without _her_ death in _this_ river, the pain would never go away.

Where the hell was she?

New Section-

Derek had been forced to slow the car to a near crawl on the extremely dangerous dirt road as they waited anxiously to hear on the radio where exactly the car was so they could 'rush' to the rescue, as Emily had requested of them what seemed a life time ago. The tension in the car was so thick even a knife wouldn't be able to cut it. Hotch had actually caused a crack to form in the handle he held and it was possible he'd also cracked a bone in his hand doing so.

The radio crackled to life again and they all leaned in to hear it eagerly.

"White River Rush to base; I don't know where the car crashed, but it did not land in the river. There are four of us patrolling this section of the river so we should have easily spotted them before the car sunk out of sight. There is _no way_ their car landed in the river."

They exchanged worried looks as Derek sent the car moving forward again. It looked like they would be first on the scene if they kept going in this direction. But where were the girls?

New Section-

Penelope Garcia started awake to agony running in a strip diagonally across her chest, constricting her breathing and causing her head to spin from the lack of oxygen. She flicked her eyes open and turned her head to see what was causing the constriction, which turned out to be an extremely bad move as pain exploded in a dizzying kaleidoscope of blue, green, white and red that rapidly bled to black.

New Section-

"Hey, aren't they the tags belonging to the late Nathan Kreggs?" Derek asked as the road curved back towards the river and a truck appeared in view.

"Yes, they are. Stop the car."

They quickly got out and pulled their weapons as they moved around the vehicle and spotted a man lying on the ground facing the river, his shoulders shaking rapidly.

"Peter Kreggs, this is the FBI! Get your hands where I can see them right now!" Derek waited a moment, before getting more insistent. "Mr Kreggs, get your hands where we can see them immediately and stop moving! Peter Kreggs!"

Dave and Reid had circled around the man and were slowly moving in from either side at the front. It was Dave who holstered his weapon and moved in to haul the other man up. His pants pooled around his ankles showing his groin was grossly swollen and an angry red colour. His hands shook as Dave hauled them around behind him and cuffed him.

"No! Stop, I need relief. You need to find the woman and put her in the river. Otherwise I'll be like this forever. Please! You've got to help me!"

"Damn! We thought he'd be a sadist; we never even guessed it would be sexual in nature."

"And psychotic. Sounds like he believes the only way to obtain orgasm is to see women drown. I'm surprised he didn't do it himself."

"No no no! I never touched them. The car was the only safe way that would work to get me release from this pain. But the woman stopped it last time and the pain just got worse."

"Do you mean Agent Prentiss."

"The woman on the boat, yes. I need her to be in the river so the pain can go away. Otherwise I will be like this forever."

"Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, you can suffer for the rest of your miserable, ill-gotten life. Get him out of my sight before I kill him."

Dave yanked the man forward as Reid returned from his trip to the car. "I've called the local authorities and alerted them to our location. They're sending a car to pick him up. There's still no word on where Emily's car is though. Rescue choppers will be here in about an hour and Duke is calling up every available officer to help us search this stretch of road and woods."

Hotch nodded and stared at the water rushing past. He felt like he couldn't breathe, like he wouldn't be able to breathe again until he found Emily and had her back in his arms. He _had_ to be given a second chance with her. He just had to. Otherwise, she'd never know he loved her more than he'd ever loved Haley and more than he would ever love another woman ever again. Without her, his world was over.

New Section-

Derek watched the troopers' car pull away from the clearing before turning to look at Hotch. Dave was making himself useful by looking over maps and making suggestions for searching. Reid appeared to be fishing his phone out of the car. But Hotch just stood at the rivers' edge, watching the water, his stance so tense he almost thought a strong breeze would knock the other man over.

He walked towards his boss and wondered just what exactly was going on between Emily and him.

Reid watched Morgan join Hotch in silent support as his call rang through. It was just a hunch, but surely it was better than nothing.

"This is TA Lynch."

"Kevin, this is Reid. I need you to locate Garcia's mobile signal and send me the GPS coordinates. It should be stationary at this moment."

"Why don't you just ask Penelope where she is?"

"Because she's unavailable at the moment."

"Well..."

"Look I don't have time to play twenty questions. Just find them!"

"Geez, take a breath and hold your horses man. I'm of the rare breed that can actually multitask. While I've been talking to you I've located the phone and I can tell you, it doesn't make sense."

"What do you mean it doesn't make sense. Where are they?"

"According to my trusty system, they are in the White River half a mile upriver from where you are."

"That can't be right. Rescue crews said that they didn't hit the river."

"Maybe they didn't but the phone did. I can force a connection for you so you can hear what's surrounding it if you like. It will also allow you to hear anyone close to the phone as well."

"You can do that?"

"Normally no, but Penelope's phone is a special government toy that uplinks via satellite; I can do all kinds of wicked and wonderful things with it. It's also waterproof which might explain why it's in the river but is still transmitting a signal."

"Alright, link us up to it." He raised his voice and called out, "Hey guys, Kevin is going to force a connection to Garcia's phone; he says we'll be able to hear anything happening at the other end that way."

He was pretty quickly surrounded as he placed the call on speakerphone.

"Okay, everyone hold on to your hats; here we go."

New Section-

The smell of gasoline fumes, smoke and pine sap assaulted Garcia's nasal passages and throat at the same time and caused her to wretch horribly as she struggled to catch a clean breath of air. The constriction across her body hadn't eased and the pain in both her body and her head were by far worse than anything she'd previously ever experienced, including the time in her life when she'd been shot by a psycho.

Opening her eyes didn't help matters any, but she vaguely remembered that keeping her head still was the order of the day, so she waited til the initial sharpness wore off and then she turned her head slowly to look about.

She could distantly hear a phone ringing and even more distant she could hear the river rushing past. Just the thought of a drink eased the terrible constriction in her throat.

She spotted the phone on the back of the chair in front of her, just hanging there in midair as it rang. She watched the tiny screen as the call stopped, a keypad appeared on the display and the code was entered giving another person access to the small piece of technology and all it could do. Then the screen lit up and she could see Kevin's name and number and she wondered how he'd come to be in Arkansas with her.

Then other voices intruded.

"I hear the river but it sounds almost distant, like they didn't make it in. This is good." Okay, so Derek was with Kevin.

"So we know they haven't drowned. The wind is pretty strong wherever they are; I can hear it moving the trees." So was Hotch.

"No voices though. So maybe the phone is still in the car but they got out at the last minute. But if that was the case, we would have seen them on the road as we traversed it. I didn't even see signs of where the vehicle went off the road." Sounded like all her boys were present. She wondered which of them would be best at the task of making her pain go away.

Penelope closed her eyes as her head throbbed. The voices were loud and intrusive and her head just wanted something soft to lean against but for some reason, her body wasn't responding to her brain's commands. She wondered if her voice would work for her or against her. Only one way to find out.

"Do you think you guys could keep it down? You're awfully loud and my head doesn't like it at the moment."

Blessed silence. Okay, so the voice works fine. Now we just need...

"Baby girl, talk to me here. Tell me where you are."

"Only if you stop shouting. It _hurts_."

"Sorry beautiful; is that better."

"Not much, but you get brownies for trying. What was the question again?"

"We need to know where you are so we can come rescue you and make the pain go away."

"Ooh, I like that idea. Okay, so where am I?" She slowly moved her head around and tried to make sense of what she could see. "Air."

"What about the air?"

"Air tastes and smells terrible. Almost like something is on fire that shouldn't be."

"Alright, so we know the smell is dreadful, but there haven't been any fires reported by anyone and we can't see smoke in the air from where we are standing. What else?"

"I see a tree, directly in front of us and it's huge! I remember we went over a cliff and we were flying and then my head hit the window and it went dark in my head and now I wish it was still dark cause we are in a tree! Oh god, we are in a tree and I can see there is water below us and I'm strapped in and I hurt and JJ is strapped in and not moving and I can't see Emily. She's not in the...; oh god, she's not in the car and the windshield's gone." Her tirade dissolved into broken sobs as the fullness of her situation slammed into her and sent her into a full-blown panic attack. The pain got worse as she struggled against the seatbelt keeping her in her seat and the knowledge that the phone wasn't suspended in midair; they were.

New Section-

"Get me out of here! Get me out of here! Get me out..."

Duke stepped away from the group with the radio and asked the river boats to search high up the cliff face for the car. Kevin's voice called through the speaker to Penelope and was slowly but steadily calming her down.

"He sounds like he's done this for her before," Reid murmured to Dave.

"We'll if you'd been shot when you weren't usually in that kind of position, don't you think you'd have panic attacks too?"

"Got 'em!" Duke crowed triumphantly. "Looks like a tree broke their fall and held; the car is in an extremely precarious position, but we can easily get cable attached to it to secure it. Caption Shane said Emily is in the same tree, but it looks like she went through the windshield and landed on a lower branch. He said we might want to focus on getting her up before she regains consciousness because if she wakes, panics and rolls, she'll fall for sure. I've alerted all rescue crews to rush to their location."

Everyone ran for their vehicles, as Kevin demanding to know exactly what was going on with his girlfriend, knowing that time was _not_ on their side but praying they'd have enough of it anyway.

New Section-

"_Daddy!"_

"_Hey sweet pea, what are you doing in that big ole tree?"_

"_Playing," she said with giggle._

"_Don't you think you should come down now? It's almost time for dinner and Sheila has made your favourite macaroni."_

"_Yes! Daddy? Will you catch me if I fall?"_

"_Always Emily, always."_

New Section-

Aaron Hotchner felt his heart stop yet again as he reached the cliff edge and looked down on what had to be the most horrific sight of his life where it involved his family. And these women, all three of them, were definitely family. JJ and Garcia were his beautiful blond sisters and Emily...

Tears slid down his face as he took in her still, blood drenched form and her staring, unseeing eyes. Hands gripped his shoulders but he barely felt them as his knees buckled and the realisation sunk in that for the second time in his life he was too late to save the woman he loved.

End-

**A/N: References on the river and both states are from Wikipedia and information further on in the story regarding the unsub's behavioural characteristics and profile are courtesy of information I pulled from the Criminal Minds fanwiki glossary page.**

**As always, I love reviews, so please feel free to let me know what you think.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Any inaccuracies or inconsistencies in this story are completely my fault. I only hope you won't hold them against me. **

**WARNING: This story has been rated M due to violence and adult themes. Please heed the warning and be aware that some of the content may not be suitable for younger readers.**

**Please also note that this chapter contains some language that is unsuitable for younger readers.**

The Road to Nowhere – Chapter 7

Travis Simpson made his slow way down the cliff face, secure in the knowledge that the ropes attached to his harness would hold him should he lose his footing. It was his job as first man down to accomplish several, all important, tasks. The first, to see exactly how secure the car was and attach three massive cables to the back and undersides of the vehicle to further ensure it wasn't going anywhere while the rescue was underway. The second task was to check the condition of the occupants of the car and get a preliminary assessment to the other medics who would be following him down with all the gear. The third, and for him the toughest task, was to attach a harness to the woman lying dead further down the tree so that they could retrieve her body.

The car, he realised, was not only resting on an extremely old and sturdy tree, the undercarriage had also wedged itself on rocks; this explained why it hadn't tipped over or snapped the large branches with its considerable weight. Gasoline leaked all over the place and sparks appeared to be randomly coming from the engine block. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

"Simpson to Yates; boss, we need foam and lots of it down here to smother the gasoline leaking out before one of the sparks I can see coming from the engine ignites something we don't want ignited. It'll be tough for the trees here, but I think you should probably look at covering everything from here to the river just to be on the safe side. The car's undercarriage is wedged on rocks. I won't be able to secure the underside. Advise another location for the third cable."

"Roger that Simpson. Fire chief is on to the foam now. Vittors suggests attaching the third cable to the axle linking the back wheels. It won't be as secure, but it will still help."

"Roger that."

He turned to look up and found the three cables to attach to the car were about a metre behind him. He attached them to the vehicle and turned to his next task.

They'd told him the blond in the back was named Penelope Garcia and she was pretty panicked by the whole thing, particularly since her parents had been killed by a drunk driver when she was 18. The woman in the front was named Jennifer Jareau and it was presently unknown as to her overall condition and even whether or not she too was alive.

He eased his body around to the side of the vehicle and found two sets of eyes blinking at him. He grinned. "Hey; I know a lot of people are going to be happy to know the two of you are alive."

"Did you find Emily?" Penelope asked anxiously.

Travis was glad he wasn't a rookie where dissembling was required. "I'll be attending to her just as soon as I've sorted you out. So the easier you are to deal with and the quicker you _honestly_ answer my questions, the quicker I can move on to her. Alright?"

"What happens when you go?" JJ asked.

"Others come in my place. My end task is to see to your friend. Other medics and rescue personnel will be coming to swarm around you and get you safely out of here."

Both women nodded agreement and he once again keyed his radio. "Simpson to Yates; I have had lucid verbal conversation with both Penelope Garcia and Jennifer Jareau. Standby for further details."

"Roger that Simpson."

New Section-

"Reid here," Spencer said as a relieved sigh came from more than one man at the news Simpson had just relayed about JJ and Garcia.

"It's Kevin. Is Penelope okay?"

"They're assessing that now, but the guy with her said she's lucid and to me, that sounds hopeful."

"That's good to know. Okay, three things. A bunch of us are getting on a plane in about two hours. Chief Strauss will be one of them. Ambassador Prentiss is another. The others are me, Will and Henry, Jess and Jack. This thing made national news and unfortunately some idiot reporter with a camera got a close up of Agent Prentiss's face and the caption read 'Agent Dead During Extreme Murder Investigation'.

"Now it wouldn't have been such a bad thing if the cartoons Jack Hotchner was watching at the time hadn't been interrupted with a breaking news story that showed exactly _that_ news story. His aunt called through to say he's hysterical and he needs to speak to Agent Hotchner. Be aware that Strauss has seen his breakdown because that is also all over the news."

"Shit," Reid said with feeling. "Give me a minute."

He put the call on hold and walked to where Derek and Dave stood with a hand each on Hotch's shaking shoulders. The man's broken sobs had quieted, but he hadn't stopped crying, nor had he moved from where he'd landed when his knees buckled. He also hadn't acknowledged anyone or shown any signs of noticing anything around him. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Excuse me, Hotch? Kevin's on the phone with a call you need to take. Your son saw the news footage someone took of Emily and heard what had happened to her. Jess needs you to talk to him because he is hysterical. Hotch?"

The man looked up slowly and Reid flinched at the raw emotion he saw on his face as his hand came up to take the phone. He pushed up off the ground and staggered over to a nearby tree where he sank down to the ground with the trunk at his back.

"Kevin also told me Strauss and Ambassador Prentiss are on their way."

"Shit!"

"Yeah, that was about my reaction too. Kevin, Will, Jess and the kids will also be on the plane leaving in just under two hours."

The three men turned as the noises of other men going over the cliff reached their ears and they looked down to see the advance man had started making his careful, painstakingly slow way down to where Emily lay. They looked back at Hotch as he rejoined them.

"I did what I could for Jack, but I doubt he'll ever be the same again. A child was never meant to see first his mother die and then the woman he'd come to see as a mother figure pass on."

"No man should have to watch two women he loves die either. For this I am truly sorry for your loss," Dave said quietly.

New Section-

Travis sighed quietly as he put his full weight on the branch. The tree truly was strong, for the branch moved not an iota under his feet despite the wind whipping about. He looked at the next branch and stepped slowly across, taking his time to make sure he wasn't suddenly going to plummet a few feet before his harness caught and held. But this branch held too and he edged to the end of it before crouching beside the woman lying prone on it.

He frowned as he noted the still oozing blood and the clammy nature of her skin. He slipped off the glove on his left hand and pressed his fingers in against her neck. Seconds passed before he felt a faint thump-thump against his skin.

He nearly fell off his branch in his excitement as he shifted closer.

"Agent Prentiss, can you hear me? Agent Prentiss? Emily, my name is Travis Simpson and I want to get you off this branch but I need for you to acknowledge that you can hear me. Emily?"

He watched for any signs that she'd noted his presence as he pulled his backpack off his back and opened it up. He set it on the junction where two branches met and set about pulling out the harness he'd been given to get her into. He didn't want to move her without knowing fully her condition, but at the same time he had even less time to get her secured. If she suddenly returned to the reality around her and panicked, she could be off the branch before he could catch her.

He ignored his boss, deciding he'd be forgiven later as he quietly spoke to the woman, explaining what he was doing as he fitted her and tightened the straps. There was no reaction from her at all until he tightened the straps across her chest. Her whimper caught him by surprise.

"Emily. Can you hear me?"

"Can't breathe; too tight," she whispered raggedly.

"I'm sorry honey, but I can't loosen the straps. They're in place to keep you from falling."

He lifted his eyes to hers and blinked. She'd turned her head to look at him and was crying silently. Distantly, he could hear shouting at the top of the cliff and his boss was getting frantic on his radio.

"I know you must be in incredible pain, but the restraints are necessary. Can you tell me specifically where you hurt?"

She blinked at him a couple of times before whispering, "You should answer your radio. There's a guy at the top with one just like it looking like he's ready to cut your line if you don't talk to him."

He smiled gently. "I am far more interested in you at the moment. My name is Travis, by the way."

"That's sweet Travis, but I need you to relay a message for me anyway. Tell Aaron Hotchner if he doesn't finish reading Pride & Prejudice to me while I am in the hospital, he is in serious trouble."

"Will do. Simpson to Yates."

"About bloody time. What's going on down there?"

"I have a message for Aaron Hotchner from Emily Prentiss."

"Go ahead."

"If you don't finish reading Pride & Prejudice to her while she is in the hospital, you will be in serious trouble."

"Emily? Consider it done."

Emily nodded and closed her eyes as breathing got just a little harder. He sounded so lost and broken, she ached with the need to ease his pain. "She heard. Yates, I need the following in the way of equipment before we load her in the basket to get her to the top."

New Section-

Time seemed to speed up once everyone knew they had three living victims to deal with. Previously muted energy became vibrant and everyone moved with renewed purpose.

Travis stayed with Emily through the entire rescue, even going so far as to be the man attached to the basket that was lifted directly into the rescue helicopter and rushed to the hospital in Fayetteville. A state trooper drove his car a little too fast in an effort to get Hotch to the hospital to be with her when she got out of the surgery she would surely need.

With Emily secure, workers were able to move about with a little less care for what would happen further down the cliff face and the rescue of Garcia and JJ happened with a lot more speed than was previously expected. Both women were carefully placed on backboards and winched to safety. As soon as they were at the top and being swarmed over by rescue personnel and their colleagues, fire crews went to work to remove the 4WD from the tree and get the area doused in foam.

Once they were back in the vehicle and on their way to the hospital, Reid called Kevin to relay that all three women would require surgery for various internal and external injuries but that they were all expected to make it and yes, he could take it to mean that Emily was in fact alive.

New Section-

With nothing better to do but worry while he waited for Emily to get out of surgery and Jack to arrive, Aaron put together all his reports on the case and the incident that day. Knowing that Strauss had seen the news, he didn't gloss over any of the facts as he might have done had she not known anything of his reaction to the days' events. He knew he'd face her eventually over his relationship with Emily, but for now it didn't matter and he knew she'd wait til the this had cleared up before forcing him to deal with all of that.

Derek, Dave and Reid followed his example and the paperwork was all completed before the first of the doctors entered the room and made his way over. Before he could speak, an imperious voice demanded information about her daughter and the four men sighed resignedly.

"A moment please doc."

Dave moved to the door and called to the group, who all rushed in. Jack nearly tripped up three of the adults in his rush to get to his father but no one complained. Aaron lifted his son up into his arms and wrapped him up in a snug embrace as they all looked at the doctor.

"Right, I only have an update on Jennifer Jareau."

Will stepped forward anxiously. "How is she?"

"She was lucky. Her head hit the window hard enough to cause a concussion but the scans of her head are clear. The airbag deploying caused severe facial lacerations and a broken nose, but saved her from more traumatic neck injuries by cushioning her head as it whipped forward. She has a broken shoulder and fractured collarbone on the right and a dislocated hip joint on her left side from where the seatbelt caught and held her. She also had some internal bleeding caused by the impact but it was all relatively minor. She's got a badly sprained right ankle and the normal cuts and bruises that are associated with a crash of this type."

"When can we see her?"

"She'll be in recovery overnight and we'll move her to a private room in the morning. You can see her then. I'll let you all know now, you might as well go and try to get some rest wherever you are staying as it will be morning before you get to see any of them."

He turned to walk out of the room and bumped into an entering doctor.

"Penelope Garcia?"

Kevin jumped up from where he'd sat. "That's me, but you can say it here. They're all family of a sort."

The man sighed tiredly. "She'll pull through just fine. She has a severe concussion we are monitoring but was fairly lucky otherwise. Her internal injuries were consistent with a crash of this type where the seatbelt did its job. Her pelvis was fractured and one of her hips is dislocated. She also has a dislocated shoulder, a fractured collarbone and a cracked cheekbone where her head struck the window and the glass held. Other than that, she's bruised black and blue and she's cut up but the cuts should mend without scarring. You can see her in the morning."

He turned to leave but was stopped by Elizabeth Prentiss. "Do you know anything about my daughter, Emily Prentiss. She was brought to the hospital by helicopter or so I heard."

"I'm sorry, I don't know anything about her but I imagine her doctor will be along as soon as she is out of surgery."

Elizabeth stood still for several minutes after the man had left, seemingly off in her own little world. Everyone else had taken seats to wait for news on Emily. Jack had been so distressed by all the events of the day that he'd fallen asleep in his father's arms. For his part, all Aaron could think about was the fact that Emily _still_ didn't know he loved her.

"Tell me something, Agent Hotchner. Tell me what your relationship to my daughter is, because I am getting seriously conflicted stories from different sources."

Aaron rested his head back against the wall and closed his eyes as exhaustion threatened to drag him under.

"Emily and I have been seeing each other steadily since Christmas." He opened his eyes and looked at the ambassador. She was obviously tossing up on whether to ask something else when a doctor walked into the room.

"Agent Hotchner."

Aaron stood and shifted Jack in his arms to a more comfortable position. He nodded to Elizabeth. "This is Agent Prentiss's mother. What you say to me can be said to her and you might as well tell everyone here since I doubt we're leaving until we know what's what."

The doctor nodded at Elizabeth respectfully. "For what she's been through, Emily is very lucky to be alive. The windscreen she went through was shatterproof glass so although it did break up, it didn't shard and this worked in her favour. Her seatbelt clearly snapped when her weight hit it and this stopped her from sustaining breaks to her shoulder, collarbone and hip. The blow she took to her head was severe, with swelling under her skull causing a slight amount of pressure to her brain. The pressure and swelling were already easing off when she went for a scan before surgery, so we are monitoring that closely for now and we won't move to open her head up unless we absolutely have to. We don't know if there was any permanent brain damage caused by the blow but once she's rested up for a few days, we'll check her brain functions thoroughly to see what's what and work from there.

"A large piece of glass that remained unbroken as she fell imbedded in her back extremely close to her spine. We don't believe her spine was compromised, but as you can imagine, she landed heavily and this caused swelling the length of her spine regardless that is causing paralyses at the moment from the neck down. We'll know more about her spine injuries once the swelling recedes. Her pelvis is badly cracked across the width of it from how she landed and though that will heal, any pregnancies she has in the future will need to be closely monitored and birthing will most likely need to be by caesarean section.

"She had a collapsed lung, but that has been dealt with and she is breathing well on her own and her internal injuries were relatively minor by association. In addition, she has a sprained wrist, a dislocated knee and a broken ankle. She'll be in intensive care for a few days to closely monitor her overall condition but I believe she should, with intense therapy, make a full recovery."

"Doctor, just a quick question before you go. If she'd landed in the river, do you think her injuries would have been more minor?"

"No Agent Hotchner, I don't. We ascertained from the location of the blow to her head that Emily struck the steering wheel before she was thrown from the vehicle. If she'd landed in the river, I have no doubt she would have drowned."

Aaron sat down hard as the doctor left the room. Jess sat down beside him and took his hand as silence descended on the room. No one wanted to think about leaving so they all made themselves as comfortable as possible about the room.

The case was over and the Arkansas police would take over the interrogation and evidence-finding. Their only job now was to ensure the family healed all wounds and life returned to business as usual with a few, small changes.

End-

**A/N: The End!**

**I finished my first case fic and I survived it. This is exciting! There will be more, less dangerous missions for our beloved heroes to see to but for now all they need to do it heal.**

**My next fic will follow on from this one, so stay tuned to this space.**

**As always, I love reviews, so please feel free to let me know what you think.**


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